


Exuviae

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Keith (Voltron), Bugs & Insects, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Episode: s02e01 Across The Universe, Fake Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Magic, Metamorphosis, Moths, Not as gross as it sounds, Wings, flower petals, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:27:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22154767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “It was one of the petals. They had come fromhim.He reached down and picked it up off of the floor. Before he could get a better look at it it vanished into specks of light before his eyes. The ones on the floor followed suit.This wasn’t a human illness. That meant that Keith wasn’t human.”-Shiro always wanted Keith to come out of his shell. He didn’t mean it literally.
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 53





	Exuviae

**Author's Note:**

> [ “In arthropods, such as insects… moulting is the shedding of the exoskeleton (which is often called its shell), typically to let the organism grow…The new exoskeleton is initially soft but hardens after the moulting of the old exoskeleton. The old exoskeleton is called an exuviae. While moulting, insects can't breathe.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulting#In_arthropods)

Aches and pains invaded Keith’s body and he slumped down onto the floor with his back against the wall. He was hyperventilating. He could have tried to get help but it was too late now. He had only started to feel sick yesterday and now he couldn’t move.

Keith would most likely die in this smoldering shack on a hot summer’s day.

It wasn’t entirely unexpected despite his young age. As a child he had two episodes years apart of passing out and waking a day later, his father telling him he’d been very ill and almost didn’t make it. In the back of his mind Keith figured that it could happen again some day.

But this time his father, and Shiro, were gone. He had no one to care for him.

Maybe Keith would join Shiro when he closed his eyes and never opened them again. Their bodies would be left behind, one alone in the hot desert and the other alone in the cold vacuum of space.

The teenager closed his eyes. The pain was fading. His body was going numb. He breathed out a sigh of relief and couldn’t draw another breath. The lack of air didn’t hurt.

His world was black and he lost any concept of time.

When he woke he felt overstimulated. His senses were heightened; the sun was too bright through the window and his skin smarted against his clothing.

Keith looked down at his shaking hand and saw that it was far too pale. It was white as a sheet. He slowly stood and limped over to where he kept a hand mirror.

His hair was grey with a hint of lavender. He touched it and it was much softer than usual. His eyelashes were the same. What kind of sickness was this? When he put the mirror down and turned around he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

There were flower petals scattered about on the floor. They were iridescent, a pastel rainbow. They had a pattern over them that reminded Keith of stained glass. Before he could wonder where they came from he felt a need to scratch his head and something fell out of his hair.

It was one of the petals. They had come from _him_. He reached down and picked it up off of the floor. Before he could get a better look at it it vanished into specks of light before his eyes. The ones on the floor followed suit.

This wasn’t a human illness. That meant that Keith wasn’t human.

He laughed to himself. He always did believe in aliens.

-

“I’m just really tired. I think I’ll take a long nap on our day off” Keith told Shiro. Shiro looked a bit worried but smiled gently.

“Sure. You get some rest.”

“Have fun doing nothing!” Lance called as he left the lounge room. “I’m going to go be productive!”

“Making goop soldiers is not productive, Lance!” Shiro called back.

When Keith hit the sack he knew from his bone aches and lethargy that what happened around a year ago was happening again. It had come on much faster this time but somehow he wasn’t panicked. He didn’t particularly want the others to know; it made him feel even more like an outcast than usual. He hadn’t even told Shiro. But he was just so _tired_ , all he could do was hope that no one checked in on him before it was over.

Despite his calmness he started to breathe fast and hard, like an instinct that he needed all of the oxygen he could get. Then his breathing became slower and slower until it ceased entirely.

Keith felt refreshed when he woke from his nap. He looked at the skin on his arms and then his hair. He was pleasantly surprised to see that they were back to their normal colors already. That took much longer the last time. He wondered if he even went through the same thing at all.

Then he saw a lone flower petal on the floor. It disappeared.

Later he’d notice two small bumps on his scalp nestled in his hair. He wasn’t sure what to make of it but decided to cross that bridge when he came to it.

-

Said bridge came up at a rather inconvenient time.

To be fair it could have been worse. Those bloodthirsty lizards were no longer chasing Shiro since Keith and the black lion shooed them away with their tails between their legs. There didn’t seem to be anything or anyone out to get them anymore. But Shiro was still pretty badly injured. Keith had to practically drag him to safety.

The two sat by the fire leaning against their rock when Keith felt it coming on, and fast.

“Oh… not here…” he moaned. He shivered despite the heat of the flames.

“Keith? What’s wrong? You didn’t get injured at some point, did you?” Shiro asked, suddenly alert after almost dosing off.

“No… I’m fine” Keith panted, his breathing picking up even as he became more and more tired.

“Yeah… yes, you’re gonna be fine. We’re fine. Hey, relax, breathe with me. In for five seconds then out for five seconds.”

Keith shook his head. Shiro thought he was having a panic attack. Even though he had a gaping wound in his side Shiro was concerned about Keith’s mental health.

“You have to breathe slower or you’re gonna pass out.”

“I know” Keith gasped. ‘That’s kind of the point’ was left unsaid. He became limp and closed his eyes.

“Stay with me, Keith!” Shiro urged.

-

Shiro was starting to panic himself. He wasn’t sure what set Keith off but it could have been any number of things that happened that day, or were going on right now for that matter.

At least Keith’s breathing had calmed down.

“There we go” Shiro muttered, patting Keith’s shoulder. He would wake up in a minute and everything really would be fine.

Except the younger paladin went in the other direction and stopped breathing altogether.

“No, Keith, please don’t do this-”

Shiro held Keith in his lap despite his bleeding side protesting. Keith had been completely normal all day. What happened? He lowered him to the ground and tried to resuscitate him.

Unbeknownst to Shiro Keith still had a very slow heartbeat. But it couldn’t be felt under shaking fingers jammed against his neck.

Keith’s top half of his armor was removed and Shiro started chest compressions. In between rescue breaths he begged Keith to keep fighting. But none of his actions were doing any good. He was too exhausted and agonized by his wound to do it right anyway.

“Please don’t go. Don’t leave me _alone._ ”

He tried a couple more times before sagging back against the rock and panting.

“You… I was just about to tell you…” He smoothed Keith’s hair back from where he layed beside him. “I was just about to say that I want you to lead Voltron if I don’t make it. You have what it takes. How are the others going to feel when they lose _two_ of us in one day?”

Keith didn’t move a muscle, not that Shiro was expecting him to at this point, but after a few minutes of being cradled by his friend his skin started doing something strange.

It looked like it was cracking in places. Between the cracks it started turning into different colors, pastel and shimmering.

Shiro was speechless.

The rainbow sections turned into flower petals and blew away. Exposed was skin that was a soft lavender. Outer layers of his black hair shed in strands revealing the same light purple color.

Shiro had seem some strange things during all of his time in space but this enchanting display made him feel like he was high on Altean painkillers.

After the petals had fallen Keith was lavender all over. The little colorful leaflets surrounded him. The last two were on his head and when they drifted off two feathery antennae popped up from his hair. Shiro couldn’t help himself and touched them. They were soft.

“Mmm” Keith stirred. He took a deep, shuddering breath then exhaled with a smile. His eyes opened. They were golden and lacked pupils.

“Shiro. You’re still alive” Keith said, relieved.

Shiro had his mouth hanging open. He closed it and grabbed Keith, hugging him close and trying not to grunt in pain when it strained his injury.

“I thought I lost you! You wouldn’t wake up!” He let some tears fall onto Keith’s shoulder. Keith wrapped his arms around Shiro.

“I didn’t go anywhere. It takes more than an alien metamorphosis to get rid of me” Keith said.

Shiro laughed out loud, wiping his tears. “Yeah it does. But… Keith, what _is_ this? Did you know this would happen?”

“It’s happened before but I can’t predict it. I don’t know what it is to be honest. I mean, I never knew my mother so I’ve been thinking that this runs in the family?” Keith replied casually as if he were talking about inheriting eye color.

“So your mother is an insect. Right” Shiro said. He felt dizzy. Keith got off of him.

“Insect? Wait, is there something on my head?”

“Uh, yeah. Antennae. Like a moth or something.”

“Seriously?” Keith sounded a mixture of scared and eager. He reached up and felt them. “Wow, that’s… never happened before. I wonder if it’s permanent.”

“You’re purple, too.”

“Whoa” Keith breathed, rolling up the sleeve of his undersuit to examine his skin. He stopped to pull the zipper on his back open.

“Something feels funny” he explained.

Wings unfolded outward. They were the same iridescent, pale rainbow as the petals. They were sheer and vaguely resembled the wings of a dragonfly. Keith sighed in comfort and stretched them.

“Are they what I think they are?” he asked Shiro.

“Yes.”

Suddenly an intense rumbling startled them and shook the ground. They were bathed in the light of a wormhole.

The green lion burst through.

Keith smiled. He felt excited, full of more energy than the last time he changed. He squeezed Shiro’s shoulder, then pushed off of his feet and _flew._ The petals on the ground vanished into sunshine as he went. He hovered in front of the green lion’s cockpit.

Pidge stared in wonder.

-

“So we took the jetpack off and made slots for you wings, see?” Pidge explained.

Keith took the armor. “Thank you” he said sincerely. He assembled it around his torso and wings. He gave them an experimental flutter then hovered a foot above the ground.

“Aww, why is Bug Boy the only one to get special armor? Some of us humans would like an upgrade or two!” Lance joked.

“I’m not a bug. I’m closer to an insect” Keith specified.

“You want me to go back to Mullet?”

“…Bug Boy is fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Reuploaded flower-moth-alien Keith doodle: https://www.deviantart.com/fellapartinabaddream/art/Mothman-828949383?ga_changes=1&ga_submit_new=10%3A1580580577&ga_type=edit


End file.
